Saner drug sentencing

Thanks partly to the “war on drugs,” too many Americans languish in prison. As U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. recently pointed out, the nation contains just 5 percent of the world’s population but...

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Posted Aug. 20, 2013 @ 12:01 am

Thanks partly to the “war on drugs,” too many Americans languish in prison. As U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. recently pointed out, the nation contains just 5 percent of the world’s population but almost 25 percent of its prisoners. In 2010, incarceration cost taxpayers $80 billion.

In a speech to the American Bar Association last week, Mr. Holder unveiled plans for a shift in how federal drug offenders are prosecuted. Under guidelines to prosecutors, certain low-level offenders will be charged in ways that do not subject them to harsh, mandatory-minimum sentences. These penalties, enacted by Congress in the 1980s, have unduly punished thousands of Americans, particularly minorities, and fractured too many communities.

Federal prisons are over-stuffed with more than 219,000 inmates, about half of them serving time for drug infractions. Millions more are held annually in state and local jails, where, again, drug crimes are a big part of the story. In recent years, however, many states have grasped that the costs are unsustainable. Texas and Arkansas, for example, are diverting more drug offenders to treatment programs, and experimenting with early-release and job-training programs.

Mr. Holder plans to follow their lead. Federal prosecutors will be directed to hand off more drug cases to the states. When they do bring charges for low-level offenses, they will write them in a fashion that bypasses the mandatory minimums. Qualifying cases may not involve violence, sales to minors, or ties to gangs or criminal cartels.

Mr. Holder’s plan strikes a thoughtful balance between the need to get tough with major criminals and the wisdom of guiding minor offenders toward more productive lives. Minimum sentences that bind judges’ hands tend to be inherently unjust, removing discretion and judgment that are vital when dealing fairly with human beings.

Of course, Congress, as the people’s representatives, should step in and remove some of these sentencing mandates through legislation. (Among other things, such a change would become permanent, rather than subject to the discretion of an attorney general.)

Some have questioned whether Mr. Holder is acting within his authority. Still, politicians on both sides of the aisle support this effort. In addition, he has pledged to work with Congress to grant judges more sentencing discretion in drug cases. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) have introduced promising legislation toward this end.

Easing mandatory minimums will make the justice system fairer while enabling wiser use of tax dollars. With help, most low-level offenders can turn their lives around. Without it, and warehoused for too long, they are more likely to become hardened criminals.